About Rachel Hynson, Ph.D. (she/they)

I am a queer, neurodivergent editor and publication coach. I help historians and other qualitative scholars navigate academia’s unspoken expectations and publish their research. My work is intersectional, always.

I have been a prep cook in a dinner theater, life drawing model for art classes, and patient actor for medical students. My first foray into helping others on their higher education journeys was right after college, when I worked as a call-center operator, answering questions about the FAFSA (that needlessly complex application for student aid).

Since 2014, when I received my PhD in Latin American & Caribbean history, I’ve been working with faculty, independent scholars, and PhD students as an editor and, more recently, a publication coach. Et al. Scholars has been my full-time business since 2023.

I provide developmental, stylistic, and copy editing to historians and other qualitative scholars. I also work one-on-one with scholars to help them meet their writing goals; I recently reached 525 hours of private coaching.

Through this work, I am committed to supporting people who, like me, have struggled to find belonging in academia. I do this by demystifying academic knowledge and norms that form part of the “hidden curriculum” of academia. I also support my clients to reframe outsider perspectives as strengths, an approach illustrated by the name, et al. Scholars.